Citation:
Zheng, Matthew "Matta". 2023.“Dharmic Disidentifications: Queer Buddhists of Color, Racial Capitalism, and Power”. in Uses and Abuses of Power in Alternative Spiritualities. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Abstract:
Abstract: This is a scholarly interrogation of mainstream American Buddhism and how queer Buddhists of color offer an evolving, albeit marginalized, set of liberatory possibilities. At both the theoretical and community levels, I find that queer Buddhist of color (QBOC) critique is the newest frontier of dismantling American Buddhism’s deep partnership with racial capitalism and white supremacy. Queer Buddhists of color practice and open up disidentification with American Buddhism, a concept developed by queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz which describes how queer people of color recuperate majority culture and bring new life into it for their own survival and thriving. As such, this critical framework promulgates a novel possibility within Buddhist Studies and related fields which incubates a radical transformation in American Buddhism without divesting from its institutions and resources entirely.Presenter bio: Matthew “Matta” Zheng (any pronouns) is an MDiv student at HDS from Sacramento, CA. They completed their BAs at Stanford University in human biology and political science, with honors in LGBTQ+ studies. His thesis was a political ethnography of queer political operatives in Washington, DC. Matta investigates white supremacy and racial capitalism as institutional cores of American Buddhism. Furthermore, Matta is deeply called to end-of-life medicine and chaplaincy, and plans to complete an MD/PhD in medical anthropology after Divinity school.
Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School